40 years after coup, divisions remain in Chile

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Looking back at Chile's 1973 coup

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Wednesday is the 40th anniversary of the coup that ousted Salvador Allende

A military dictatorship ruled for the next 17 years

Divides still exist over how to deal with the past

Some want to move forward, others want to study the past

Forty years have passed since the military coup in Chile that ushered in a 17-year dictatorship, and a divide remains between those who want to investigate the past and those who want to focus on the future.

September 11 is a day that has cast a shadow in Chile since 1973, when the military attacked the presidential palace and put an end to the presidency of socialist leader Salvador Allende.

Competing memorials held this week by the government and opposition leaders are a reminder of the lack of unity over how to commemorate the past.

There is agreement that the abuses committed under Gen. Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship -- nearly 2,300 people disappeared and 40,000 were tortured -- should be remembered so that history will not repeat itself.

Chilean military coup of 1973 15 photos

Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – This picture taken circa 1971 in Santiago, shows Chilean President Salvador Allende testing a Kalashnikov machine gun given to him as a gift by the then-Cuban President Fidel Castro.

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Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – Armed guards watch out for attackers as Allende leaves the Moneda Presidential Palace during the military coup in which he was overthrown and killed in the palace on September 11, 1973. This is said to be the last photo of the president.

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Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – Chileans watch a military tank make its way to the Presidential Palace in Santiago, on June 30, 1973. This revolt against President Allende was crushed, before Allende died in the military coup on September 11, 1973.

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Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – General Augusto Pinochet, standing in a white jacket, a career army officer, led the military coup and established himself as the head of the ensuing government. He waves from the motorcade on September 11, 1973 in Santiago, accompanied by the Chilean defense minister, Vice-admiral Patricio Carvajal. A year later, in 1974, Pinochet signed a decree naming himself Chilean president.

Chilean military coup of 1973 – Chilean soldiers patrol the streets in Santiago on October 4, 1973.

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Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – The Puchuncavi concentration camp near Valparaiso, Chile on October 15, 1975. The government of Allende built Melinka as a popular beach resort, owned by the central labor confederation. Following the coup, it was taken over and lasted from July 1974 to 1975 as a concentration camp.

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Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – A man is arrested and carried by Chilean riot policemen as hundreds of students protest on September 11, 1993 in Santiago, Chile, during a march organized by leftists parties on the 20th anniversary of the military coup. Police stopped the marchers from reaching the La Moneda Presidential Palace.

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Chilean military coup of 1973 – Pinochet is greeted by a supporter on August 23, 1995 after leaving his house in Santiago to celebrate his 22nd anniversary as commander with military ceremonies.

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Chilean military coup of 1973 – Pinochet celebrates his 80th birthday on November 26, 1995 in Santiago. Hundreds of Chileans disappeared during the 17 years that Pinochet ruled Chile.

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Chilean military coup of 1973 – Pinochet listens to a military band playing before his residence in Santiago on September 11, 1997 to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the coup.

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Chilean military coup of 1973 – Thousands of Chileans poured into the streets of Santiago on October 6, 1988 to celebrate the defeat of Pinochet in a "Yes" or "No'" vote that would have extended the dictator's 15-year rule.

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Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – The top of this photo shows the Chilean Army troops firing on the La Moneda Palace in Santiago on September 11, 1973. Below is the same place almost 30 years later.

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Chilean military coup of 197315 photos

Chilean military coup of 1973 – A man lights a candle at the gates of the National Stadium on September 11, 2002 in Santiago bearing pictures of those who disappeared under the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Pinochet.

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Chilean military coup of 1973 – A thousand people lay down on the sidewalk along Alameda main avenue during a commemorative action in Santiago, on September 10, 2013. The protest represents the people missing during the dictatorship.

But in an election year, there is a political divide over what it means to remember.

President Sebastian Pinera, the first leader from the right since the end of Pinochet's rule, wants to focus on the future.

"The past has already been written," he said at the government's official memorial. "We can recall it, we can study it, we can debate it, but we cannot change it. Because of that, we should not remain prisoners or hostages of that past."

Three out of five Chileans were not born when the coup happened, and the strong feelings of blame that some hold on to should not be passed on to the younger generation, he said.

"We should also ask, 'Why do we want to remember?' To relive the same divisions, violence and hate that caused us so much pain in the past, or to the contrary, to light the path to the future?" Pinera said.

Opposition leaders refused the president's invitation to the event and instead held their own observance at nearly the same time.

Among the speakers was Michelle Bachelet, a former president who is running for the highest office once again.

"There is still today a large division between those who justify the dictatorship and those of us who trust in democracy," she said.

Rather than move on, more investigations are needed to clarify the responsibilities for the abuses under the dictatorship, she said.

Reconciliation is not possible, Bachelet said, without an accounting of truth and justice.

"Truth, because we need to know what the victims experienced and what happened to them. And justice, because where justice is denied, impunity fills the void, deepening the divisions," she said.

The divide was apparent this week.

"Chile should not remain in the past" and "should advance toward the future with a solid democracy," government spokeswoman Cecilia Perez told reporters.

Former President Ricardo Lagos, who also belongs to the center-left coalition that led Chile after the dictatorship, said it was a shame that the current government was unable to host an event that all parties would be willing to attend.

Judges weigh in

Outside of the politics, other government bodies sought to publicly make amends.

The country's Supreme Court last week offered a mea culpa, saying the judicial system should have done more to protect people's rights in the aftermath of the coup.

The high court accepted that it fell short of its responsibilities by not pushing back on the coup government's campaign to arrest and punish opponents.

"I'm proud because the Supreme Court has offered a guarantee that this will not happen again -- that's the significance of this statement," Maria Francisca Zapata, vice president of Chile's Association of Judges, told CNN Chile.

As time passes, the views of who was responsible for the coup continue to evolve.

A poll by the Chilean Center for Studies of Contemporary Reality found that 41% of respondents blame Pinochet for the coup, an increase of 17 points in 2003. Nine percent of those polled blamed Allende, the socialist president.

A small number of Chileans allege that Allende was creating a doomed Marxist system and that there was no option but to overthrow him.

Some 16% of those polled said the military did the right thing. In a similar poll 10 years ago, a full 36% said the military was in the right.

As the views on the cause of the 1973 coup shift, so do the views of Pinochet. His image gets worse as the years go by, according to the poll.

According to the pollster, 1,200 Chileans were surveyed, and the study has a margin of error of 3%.